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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoJonathan QuilterJillian Compton, 18, with her month-old son, Elyjah Lowery, has absorbed advice from Stacie Hines, 38, through the 5-year-old Moms Offering Mentoring Support program in Delaware County. Hines, at her daughter's soccer game in Delaware's Mingo Park, has learned a few things from Compton, too.

Seasoned support for teen moms -
In the five years since Patty Cram formed a mentoring group for teenage mothers, more than just the
bellies of the expectant moms have grown.

The interest in and need for the group, called Moms Offering Mentoring Support, has exploded.
Now, 35 new or expectant mothers are on the roster. Add mentors, their children and the newborns,
and it's a packed house when the group gets together for monthly dinners, presentations and
gabfests.

"The word is out on us," said Cram, mentoring coordinator in the Delaware County Juvenile Court.
"Agencies know all about the program now. Parents know about it. The teen moms pass the word on to
their friends."

A teen mother herself 40 years ago, Cram wanted to support girls who were often judged and
ignored. She started by welcoming four nervous teens into her home.

"Within three months, we had to move it out of my living room," she said.

The growth is a mixed blessing, Cram said: It's great that more girls are finding out about the
program but discouraging that teens are still becoming mothers.

Last month, Cram applied for a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Delaware County to
help fund the expanding program, which is currently funded by the county.

About 30 of every 1,000 births in Delaware County in 2006, the most recent year for which
statistics were available, were to mothers ages 15 to 19. That's fewer than surrounding counties,
and about half the state's rate. Despite the lower birthrate, Cram still saw teens at area high
schools and in her job at court who could benefit from a mentoring group.

In the MOMS program, expectant teens are matched with "seasoned moms" to mentor them for at
least a year. More than 100 mothers have been helped by 60 mentors during the past five years. Some
of the mentors this year participated in the program before as teen moms.

"They have done so well themselves, they want to come back and help the younger girls," Cram
said. "It's exactly what I was hoping for."

Ashlee Donkin was among the new mothers in Cram's first graduating class.

Donkin, now a 25-year-old married mother of three living in Ashley, remembered being scared and
needing someone to talk to about what happened next. Her first mentor helped turn her life
around.

"It's changed my life to the extreme," Donkin said.

The moms and mentors share their experiences - messy diaper changes, lack of sleep and the
stigma of being a teen parent. The most important qualification for mentors, Cram said, is that
they're not judgmental. "It's too late to be judging these girls," she said.

New mother Jillian Compton, 18, hadn't yet told her parents that she was pregnant when she
contacted the program. When she was just two months along, she saw an article about it in the
school newspaper at Hayes High School in Delaware. Within a week, she was signed up. She now is the
mother of month-old Elyjah Lowery.

"I needed someone there to talk to when my family was going nuts," Compton said.

She's found that and more in mentor Stacie Hines, whose own daughter is just a year younger than
Compton.

"It's been an eye-opening program for her, too," Hines, 38, said.

In addition to tips about dealing with diaper rash and waking up for overnight feedings, Hines
has given Compton perspective on how her parents might feel about becoming grandparents. And Hines
finds herself asking just as many questions of Compton as the new mom does of her. When issues come
up with her own teenage daughter, she asks Compton for her thoughts.

"It's been really helpful to both of us," Hines said. "She's like one of my kids."